Linguistic Equivalence in Muslim-Idiom Translation

Abstract

Muslim-idiom translations use a range of strategies to properly contextualise biblical messages and to engage their audience. Most of these are not new or unusual. The rendering of divine titles may be subject to various different kinds of legitimate equivalence, as well as semantic and social constraints, and these issues are part of biblical history. Similarly, euphemisms, fundamental to human interaction, have always been a part of biblical textual history and cannot be banned from modern translations. And the formulaic key expressions of Islam, closely paralleling those of the Bible, contribute valuably to the literary stock which can be used to achieve engagement. Concerns about these issues are ultimately a matter of trust in translators’ loyalty to the biblical source text.